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Clementi MRT Station
| other=Clementi Bus Interchange, Taxi | structure=Elevated | platforms=Island | depth= | levels=3 | tracks=2 | parking=Yes | bicycle= | baggage_check= | passengers= | opened=6 July 1990 | closed= | rebuilt= | electrified=Yes | ADA=Yes | owned= | operator=SMRT Trains (SMRT Corporation) | zone=3 | former= }} Clementi MRT Station is an above-ground MRT station in the west of Singapore. It is part of the East West Line. Clementi MRT Station is heavily used by commuters who live in Clementi itself or further west to go to work. It is also used by students in the National University of Singapore, Nan Hua High School and other schools around Clementi. The tracks between this station and Jurong East is the longest between any two stations on the East West Line and also the longest between any MRT interchanges in Singapore. It takes four minutes for trains to travel between these two stations. The crowd at this station during peak hours also rivals City Hall. History One of the older MRT stations in Singapore, Clementi was opened in 1988. The station is painted light blue, and with recent renovations a lift has been added for the benefit of commuters. The station and nearby track follows Commonwealth Avenue West, as do the Dover, Buona Vista, Commonwealth and Queenstown stations. Looking to the southwest one can see Clementi Central, with what was previously Commonwealth theatre, a McDonald's, and the bus interchange. At the northeast there is a connecting bridge to the nearby housing estate. On 5 August 1993, at around 7.53 am, two trains collided in the station. It appeared that one train had stopped at the station for longer than usual after experiencing a technical fault, and then a second westward train hit the first. 156 commuters were injured, many of whom were on their way to work. Eight were admitted to three hospitals, while the rest received outpatient treatment. A four-member independent panel was subsequently formed by SMRT to conduct an inquiry into the accident. The panel was chaired by Chua Koon Hoe, deputy director-general of the Public Works Department of Singapore, with the members Chang Meng Teng, deputy chairman of the Public Transport Council, and Dr. Natarajan Varaprasad, principal of Temasek Polytechnic. Low Tien Sio, SMRTC's general manager (project administration) served as the secretary. The results of the inquiry were announced by the SMRTC on 19 October 1993. Shortly after the accident The Straits Times had reported that an oil spill on the tracks was responsible for the second train's inability to brake in time. Some 50 litres of oil had spilled from a locomotive doing maintenance work on the track in the pre-dawn hours of 5 August. SMRT staff had been alerted to the spill and had dispatched a cleaning crew to the neighbouring Buona Vista, but approval to access the tracks was delayed. Already ten trains had reported difficulty braking on the track that morning. The 11th train had to use its emergency brakes upon reaching Clementi station, and while it was waiting for the brakes to be recharged so that it could move off again, the 12th approached the station and could not brake in time to avoid hitting the 11th train. The Communications Minister at that time, Mah Bow Tan, said that as the SMRT staff followed procedures and none were found to be negligent, so no staff would be punished. However SMRT promised to look into the problem of oil spillage from maintenance locomotives by replacing the hoses and oil seals on all locomotives, checking all locomotives for leaks upon their return to depots, and assigning a station master to inspect tracks for oil. Procedures were also amended so that trains would not move off from stations preceding the spill until it had been cleaned up. On September 17, 2006, 26-year-old Jenny Low Siew Mui was pushed down off the platform on to the tracks and was slightly injured, an oncoming train having almost hit her. She saw the train coming towards her and had managed to climb over towards the side of the tracks (opposite the station platform). A Malaysian man, 26-year-old Kwong Kok Hing who pushed her onto the tracks was arrested by police after passers-by pinned him to the ground as he tried to escape. Kwong had pushed her over after a quarrel in which he refused to break-up with her. On October 30, 2006, a man was killed by a westbound train at the station and died on the spot. The police have described the death as an unnatural death and are investigating the matter. As a result, there was a service delay that affected 11,700 commuters. On May 23, 2007, Kwong was sentenced to one year in jail by a Supreme Court judge. He has also reported apologized to Jenny after the incident and promised not to contact her again. After an appeal from the prosecution, the sentence was upped to three years. Kwong was not in Singapore then as he had been released after serving his one year sentence and returned to Malaysia. On January 27, 2007, a woman in her 50s got her leg stuck in the gap between the train and the platform and fractured her leg. This happened at 8.27 am and caused delays in service between Queenstown and Jurong East. Train services resumed at 8.51 am. On July 20, 2007, a woman was killed by an incoming west-bound train at the station. 4120 passengers were affected by the accident as eastbound service in between Queenstown and Jurong East were suspended from 1.05 pm to 1.42 pm. In a rare incident on 8 October 2008, a man in his 30s got onto the eastbound track at the station and walked about 200 metres towards Dover. The man was clad in a red T-shirt and black shorts. A passenger had notified SMRT staff about the incursion at about 9 am. SMRT staff escorted the man back to Clementi. The man was arrested under the Miscellaneous Offences Act. Westbound trains were delayed for nine minutes while eastbound trains were delayed for seven minutes. A woman was killed after being hit by a train at Clementi on March 24, 2009. Police said they received a call at about 6.15 am that a person had fallen onto the train tracks. The Chinese woman, who was in her early seventies, was pronounced dead at about 7 am by paramedics. SMRT said the incident at 6.15 am caused westbound service between Queenstown and Jurong East to be affected. To maintain service on the unaffected stretch of the East West Line, westbound trains were turned around at Queenstown. Train services between Jurong East and Joo Koon were not affected by the incident. SMRT also activated a bus bridging service from Queenstown to Jurong East to ferry affected passengers. The first bus arrived at Queenstown at about 6.50 am. Train services resumed at 7.03 am. SMRT said about 6,250 passengers were affected during the incident. On 19 September 2011, a train developed a technical fault between Clementi and Jurong East at 7.40 am. The train was withdrawn from service. SMRT said that the incident caused a 9-minute delay in service. As with most of the stations along the East West Line, it was initially built without platform screen doors which prevents commuters from falling onto the train tracks. After several successful test at Jurong East, Yishun and Pasir Ris and eventually, installation of the half-height screen doors started on 19 April 2010 and operations commenced on 16 August 2010. It was the 4th above-ground station to have Half-Height Platform Screen Doors installed and in operational with Bukit Gombak. Also, the station has been installed with MJ Air Tech High Volume, Low Speed (HVLS) Pro-Jet fans and commenced operations on 3 October 2012. Platforms Escalators, lifts and stairs connect the Platform level to the Ticket Concourse level below. Concourse Faregates at both concourses are used for automatic fare collection and provides access between paid and unpaid areas of the station. These were changed from 1st generation faregates to newer faregates on 21 October 2011. In addition, this station have one bidirectional wide-swinging gate for the benefit of passengers-in-wheelchairs and those carrying bulky items or travelling with prams at the original and revised exits. The Passenger Service Centre (PSC) provides top-up services for the MRT station, which is available at the western end of the concourse. The eastern end of the concourse is only exclusive in having general ticketing machines. Cash top ups are no longer accepted since 1 September 2017. The eastern concourse was opened on 21 August 2015. Station layout Transport connections Rail Exits *A1 and A2: Commonwealth Avenue West, Clementi Avenue 3, The Clementi Mall (via Linkway Bridge), NTUC Fairprice Supermarket, Cityvibe Shopping Centre, Clementi Polyclinic, Clementi Primary School, Clementi Town Secondary School, Clementi Sports Hall, Clementi Swimming Complex, Clementi Bus Interchange, Clementi Stadium, West Coast Recreational Centre *B1 and B2: Commonwealth Avenue West, Clementi Avenue 4, Clementi Community Centre, Clementi Police Division Headquarters, Clementi NPC, Clementi NPP, Darussalam Mosque, Pei Tong Primary School, Clementi Avenue 2 Together with Commonwealth and Queenstown stations, this station will see the construction of an additional pedestrian link bridge linking the station to two new exits, one on each side of the road. The exits will be equipped with fare gates and ticketing machines. It was completed and opened on 25 August 2015. Passenger Usage Patterns The exit A1 and A2 consists of the Clementi Bus Interchange, Clementi Mall, Clementi CityVibe & Clementi Hawker Centre. Timothy Mok had been using it on the 26 July 2011, and also on the 29 December 2014. The exit B1 and B2 was also used for the students who are SNO, during the SNO Camp 2014. Serving the Clementi Town Centre along with schools, community amenities, retail and housing developments in the vicinity, Clementi station encounters moderate to high demand throughout the day. References External links * Category:Clementi Category:Railway stations opened in 1988 Category:Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) stations